And Now, For Some Good News: 13-Year-Old Mo'Ne Davis Shows What It Is to Throw Like a Girl

By Sarah Carlson | Miscellaneous | August 14, 2014 |

By Sarah Carlson | Miscellaneous | August 14, 2014 |

The Little League World Series isn’t generally something exciting enough to distract us from the nation’s and world’s current events, but this year, what it has going for it — who it has going for it — certainly is worth celebrating.

Meet Mo’Ne Davis. She’s 13. She’s an honor roll student about to start the eighth grade. She’s the only girl on her Little League team, the Taney Dragons, of Philadelphia. And Sunday, she threw a complete shutout to advance her team to the Little League World Series that began today in Williamsport, Pa.

Watch:

The Taney Dragons will play 3 p.m. ET Friday against South Nashville, whose players better be ready for her 70 mph fastball. That’s right — 70 mph.

Mo’Ne isn’t alone. Emma March, 12, of Vancouver, also will play in the tournament, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Little League. Davis and March are the 17th and 18th girls to play in the Little League World Series in its 68-year history.

No way is Mo’Ne’s sports career finished. She actually prefers basketball (and she was discovered by a coach at age 7 playing football) and hopes to play for the WNBA, citing favorite players Candace Parker, of the Los Angeles Sparks, and Maya Moore, of the Minnesota Lynx, as inspirations.

“… More girls should start joining boys’ teams,” Davis said. “The attention should not just be on one girl; more girls should join boys’ teams so it is a tradition and it won’t be so special.”

She’s got a point, but Davis, you are special. Bring the heat.

Sarah Carlson is Television Editor for Pajiba. She lives in San Antonio. You can find her on Twitter.